Video: West Bank film wins World Refugee Day competition

A 24-year-old woman from Al Bireh (near Ramallah) in the West Bank won UNRWA’s inaugural World Refugee Day film competition this week.

The short film by Reema Tawil, 24, impressed the panel of judges with its powerful simplicity and strong message of the decades-old conflict that remains unresolved with no resolution in sight.

The theme of the contest, which was open to young filmmakers across the Middle East, was ‘Will we meet?’

At a screening of the winning entries ahead of World Refugee Day today, Filippo Grandi, UNRWA Commissioner-General, said: “The films hold a camera to a world of opportunity but also one where factors that lie beyond the grasp of the individual can so easily frustrate those opportunities and deprive individuals of hope.”

Over the next few weeks UNRWA will feature a selection of entries on its website and Youtube channel, starting with Reema’s film.

World Refugee Day, observed on 20 June each year, raises awareness of the situation facing refugees around the world. UNRWA is mandated to provide services to 4.7 million Palestine refugees living in Gaza, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the West Bank.